Gwendolyn Henderson, who died early Tuesday, touched many lives over her 60 years as a teacher, community activist, public official, bookstore owner and champion for Black culture.
Henderson, who was voted onto the Tampa City Council in 2023, died of natural causes at her Tampa home. Paramedics responding to the emergency call transported her to a hospital, but life-saving efforts were unsuccessful, according to a statement from the city.
Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw said Henderson was a leader with “strength, dignity and unwavering respect.”
“Her passing is a somber reminder that legacy is not just defined by what we accomplish in our time here, but by the impact we make in the lives of others,” Bercaw said in a statement.
A teacher for 23 years, the West Tampa native was known for her advocacy of education, equity and economic opportunity. A city statement from Mayor Jane Castor and city council member Alan Clendenin hailed her as a “powerhouse in the community” that brought passion, empathy and community knowledge to all her roles.
ALSO READ: A conversation with Tampa City Council member Gwen Henderson about books, politics and education
“Gwen Henderson served the citizens of Tampa and Hillsborough County for many years with dedication and resolve. She will be greatly missed,” the office of Victor Crist, the county clerk of court, wrote on X.
Henderson said she strived to fairly represent District 5, an area made up of downtown, Ybor City, East Tampa and parts of West Tampa. According to census data, it’s nearly 50 percent Black, but also “very diverse,” Henderson told WUSF last year, “… and I am the councilwoman, I just happen to be a Black woman.”
Helping others learn about previous Black generations was a catalyst throughout her life.
Henderson often lamented that previous generations of her family could not read and that her great-great-grandfather was a slave. “His name was Sam Hightower,” she told WUSF last year. “It just broke my heart. … He was born into bondage, he died free, in 1932.”
Henderson was born Oct. 5, 1964, and grew up in the working-class Carver City neighborhood, according to her city biography. After graduating from Jefferson High School, she majored in education at Florida A&M University, then earned a master’s degree in education and an education specialist degree at Saint Leo University.
She has said a favorite teacher at Jefferson got her interested in becoming an educator, and she ended up teaching at her alma mater for two decades.
While teaching a class on entrepreneurship, she came up with a plan to start an online store that sold books reflecting African American culture and history.
Two years later — a few months after winning the council seat — she passed a building for lease that soon became the home of “Black English,” a bookstore she opened with her daughter, Ariel, a Howard University graduate.
“I tell people that if you wanted to see Gwen's heart, you should visit Black English,” city council member Luis Viera wrote on X. “It was a bookstore about her family and families like her — Black families and names in Tampa, in Florida and throughout our country. Names we know and names we will never know.
“It was a love letter to her family and to Black Tampa and our history — both painful and triumphant.”
For more than 30 years, she lived in a Tampa Heights home she purchased with the assistance of Tampa Preservation, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting historical structures, and the city’s Challenge Fund, then a new program developed to provide affordable housing for low- to moderate-income people.
“I feel so fortunate for myself as an educator, as single mom, I was able to buy a house,” she told WUSF.
Henderson also served on the city’s Citizens Review Board, Community Redevelopment Agency and Public Safety Coordinating Council, and the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Committee. She was also appointed board director for Hillsborough Area Regional Transit by the mayor.
Henderson was the daughter of “working-class parents,” the late Asbury Henderson, a Korean War veteran, and the late Gladys Austin Henderson.
According to Viera, Henderson “loved” to talk about her parents and “the pride of her life and greatest gift from God — her daughter.” During council meetings, Henderson would look at photographs of Ariel and “smile with pride.”
“We had some things in common, but the adoration we had of our kids was the biggest one — just looking at those photographs and smiling and being thankful,” he wrote.
The city’s plans to honor Henderson’s life and service will be shared in the coming days.
